Railway axle journal lubricator



- Jan. 7, 1936. i G w, LESLIE v 2,027,110

RAILWAY AXLE JOURNAL LUBRICATOR Filed Dec. 6, 1933 M: 4-5: g a

Patented Jan. 7, 1936 RAILWAY AXLE JOURNAL LUBRICATOR George Walter Danford Leslie, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia Application December 6, 1933, Serial No. 701,215 In Australia December 19, 1932 4 Claims.

This invention relates to railway axle journal lubricators of theknown type in which oil is taken from the well inthe bottom of the bearing box on rollers which bear frictionally against 5 the underside of the journal; the rollers take up oil in their rotation and theyare rotated by frictional engagement with the journal.

The invention consists in certain novel features in a railway axle journal lubricator of the 10 typereferred to. These features comprise firstly structural features in a spring lath carriage in which the lubricator rollers are rotatably mounted, a particular form of grooving in the peripheral faces of the lubricator rollers, an obturator 15 supported on the lubricator carriage, adapted for minimizing sloppage of oil from the oil box over the shoulder of the journal, and a filtering gauze associated withthe carriage and roller assembly for preventing foreign matter in the oilwell from 20 reaching the lubrication rollers.

' The invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawing, which, in Fig. 1, shows a sectional perspective view of an axle journal with portion of the axle box, the lubrica- 25 tor carriage, the lubricator rollers and the obturator;

Fig. 2 is a semi-diagrammatic view showing the oil filter;

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary section showing the 30 position of the oil obturator in relation to the clearance space between the back end of the axle box and the shoulder of the axle-journal; and

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary section explanatory of an alternative method of fixing the obturator. 35 The carriage 'and roller assembly apart from the obturator is adapted for utilizationin standard types of boxes; the assembly can be introduced into most of these boxes with facility after the existing lubrication pads or lubricationde- 4U vices have been drawnfrom them. The obturator is attached to the carriage and'is positioned in operative relation to the journal in setting the carriage in the axle box.

I is the axle journal, II the bearing brass, I3 45 the oil check in the slotway M in the back end of the axle box, and I5 is part of the bottom of the axle box. |6|6 are two rollers, which may be undercut on the sidefaces for lightness, although shown solid in the drawing. These rollers are 50 carried running loosely but checked against endwise movement on a spindle I1 and the spindle ends |8 are rotatable in bearings |9 which are fixed.v to the rider plate 23 of the carriage. The peripheral faces of the rollers l6 which run in 55 contact with the underface of the journal H) are grooved as indicated at 20. The inner sides of the grooves are disposed at right angles to the axes of the rollers, while the outer sides of the grooves 2| are pitched so as to give the grooves V-section with sharp outer edges standing slight- 5 ly below the level of the roller face I6, and therefore not making contact with the journal Ill. The rollers l6 rotate in the oil sump, and bodily carry oil up and intocontact along their bearing surface with the journal, the oil carried. by the 10 grooves 2| on both sides of the roller being thrown upwardly and outwardly intocontact with that part of the surface of the journal which is not'in direct physical contact with the rollers. Oil is picked up in these grooves and carried up towards the journal and is distributed on the journal by the cylindrical peripheral part of the rollers. There is a small clearance space provided between the top side of the rider plate and the underside of thelubrication rollers. The carriage is submerged in oil in the axle box, up to nearly the level of the roller spindle. The rider plate 23 is slotted crosswise near its ends as shown at 24, and through the slots there passes the ends of a semi-elliptic spring 25 the crown of which is fixed by a rivet 26 centrally to a flexible slipper plate 21. The forward end of this slipper plate is curled over as shown at 28 to form a hand grip for inserting carriage, comprising the slipper plate with the rider plate 23, spring 25, and roller assembly into the axle box. The axle boxwhen not adapted for receiving the slipper plate 21 without a support is fitted with a false floor 29 of sheet metal. This fioor is a neat fit for it and is secured in it by means of a dowel pin 32. 3| is a stud having a cotter 30 passed through it to lock down the slipper plate 21. This stud 3| isv a fixture in the axle box bottom and passes through an aperture in the false fioor plate 29. The false floor plate 29 is slotted as shown at 35 and may also be slotted as suggested at 34 to provide upturned tongues. Two of these tongues 36 and 31 form side fences for locating and supporting the slipper plate 21 and the rider plate 23; the slipper plate being notched complemen- 46 tarily to engage them. The back end tongue 38 forms a support for a spring yoke 39 which carries the obturator 40, 4| being screws or bolts by which the upper part of the obturator is fixed to the horns of the spring yoke 39, 43 is a bent plate spring fixed to the false floor plate 29 and supporting the bottom of the obturator.

In a modified arrangement the journal box bottom has ridges formed on it to accommodate the false floor plate 29 between them and to check lateral movement of it in the box. In this case the floor plate 29 may be dispensed with, and the obturator carried on the rear end of the slipper plate 21 which is extended and shaped to carry the obturator springs.

The obturator is constructed of a plate of woc d or compressed fibre Wood of considerable thickness; it might be constructed of a composite material of other suitable nature; it is shaped to seat closely against the fillet 42 in the neck portion of the journal Iii. It is intended that the cbturator will follow the journal face, maintaining close contact with it so as to prevent sloppage of oil from the oil box past the journal shoulder, so that it will check oil loss and supplement the packing l3 which also has that function.

The butt of the yoke spring 39 is fixed to the tongue 38 in the false fioor plate 29 by a slip bolt or rivet M5. The detail of the obturator mounting is subject to modification. For instance two semi-elliptic springs 60 (see Fig. 4) may take the place of the yoke spring 39, the butts of these semi-elliptic springs'being fixed to a tongue 6| struck up from the false floor plate 29.

' In Fig. 3, the fitting of the obturator contact edge withtlfe journal fillet 42 is shown; it will be noted that the obturator does not interfere with the clearance 45 which must necessarily be pro.- vided between the axle shoulder 46 and the edge 4! of the journalaperture in the back end of the journal box.

In Fig. 2, 5!! is a screen of wire gauze which is supported on the rider plate 23 and completely enclosesthe space immediately below the journal In which is occupied by the lubrication rollers l6. This screen 50 is necessarily slotted out at the top at 5| to permit the roller peripheries to project through it and make contact with the journal face. The risk of foreign matter passing intothe screen 50 through these slots is negligible, and the screen therefore prevents access to the lubrication rollers and their bearings of any foreign matter contained in suspension in the oil in the box well. Security against risk of hot bearings due to fouling of the bearing surfaces with frictional material is, therefore, obtained.

With a little manipulation, owing to the flexibility of the carriage structure, the complete assembly can be slipped into and out of most standard axle boxes with facility.

What I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A railway axle journal lubricator of the roller type, comprising a carriage plate adapted to slidably engage in the oil well in the axle box, said spring so as to permit it constrained freedom for transverse and longitudinal rocking movement and vertical movement, bearings fixed on said. rider plate, an axle carried rotatably in said bearings, and a plurality of short cylindrical rollers 5 rotatably mounted on said axle, said rollers being of such diameter that they contact peripherally with the underside of the axle journal and have small clearance from the rider plate, the ends of said semi-elliptic leaf spring, supporting said 10 rider plate on the slipper plate, being slidably embraced in transverse slots near the ends of the rider plate, and its crown being fixed to the slipper plate, to impart freedom of relative movement in a longitudinal direction between said 15 rider plate and said slipper plate.

2. In a railway axle lubricator of the kind herein described having lubricating rollers, an axle journal disposed above and in contact with said rollers, a gauze wire cage permeable to lubricat- 20 ing oil but preventing the passage of foreign matter, enclosing said lubricator rollers but slotted, on its topside to give clearance for said rollers so that the latter contact with said axle journal.

3. A'railway axle lubricator having a plurality 2 of lubrication rollers with peripheral V-grooves in them, an axle journal disposed above said lubrication rollers, and having a filler thereon, a slipper plate, a rider plate carried on said slipper plate, bearings on said rider plate for an axle, an axle extending through said rollers, a leaf spring support mounted on said slipper plate for carrying said rider plate, an axle box having an oil well therein, means for fixing the slipper plate on the fioor of said oil well, a wire gauze screen enclosing the rollers except where they contact with the underside of said axle journal, and an oil obturator flexibly mounted on the rear end of the slipper plate and adapted to bear on the journal fillet, all constructed substantially as described 40 and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

4. A railway axle lubricator having a plurality of lubrication rollers with peripheral V-grooves in them, an axle journal disposed above said lubrication rollers, and having a filler thereon, a 45 slipper plate, a rider plate carried on said slipper plate, bearings on said rider plate for an axle, an axle extending through said rollers, a leaf spring support mounted on said slipper plate for carrying said rider plate, an axle box having an oil 50 well therein, means for fixing the slipper plate on the floor of said oil well, a wire gauze screen enclosing the rollers except where they contact with the underside of said axle journal, and an oil obturator flexibly mounted on the rear end of the slipper plate and adapted to bear on the journal fillet, all constructed substantially as described'and illustrated in the accompanying drawing.

GEORGE WALTER DANFORD LESLIE. 

